New Mechanic: Predator
The set features a new mechanic called predator. This mechanic came from the work of the whole group: the name is mine, the final wording by Ryder052, and Piar and Jimmy Groove contributed heavily during the discussion that eventually led to this mechanic. Its reminder text is as follows:
Predator (At the beginning of each end step, if this creature dealt damage this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
CR entry (based on the CR ORI Edition)
702.112 Predator
702.112a Predator is a triggered ability. It means "At the beginning of each end step, if this creature dealt damage this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it."
702.112b All damage counts towards the intervening-if check, not just combat damage.
702.112c If a creature has multiple instances of predator, each triggers separately.
How did we arrive there? We asked ourselves: what is a currently unrepresented aspect of our world's flavor that we want to represent with the last mechanic?
Recap: we already had
• adaptability (adaptive)
• mana abundance (raw)
• wildness (ferocious)
The "predator/prey" part of the design goal was missing.
Requirements:
• new
• not an ability word
• doesn't step on an existing evergreen mechanic
• simple enough (it's true this is an "expert expansion", but overly complex keywords force you to design everything around them in a way that I don't think it's desiderable for us, see morph in Tarkir block: its presence required all ten faction mechanics to be very simple)
• creature mechanic (we already have raw and ferocious that can go on spells, and it feels enough)
• possibly a combat-related mechanic (we still miss one)
• possibly captures a predator/prey flavor. May it even be called "Predator"?
Predator in its current version satisfies all the requirements. It counts as combat-related because the easiest way to have a creature deal damage is by making it attack, even though predator counts all damage, not just combat damage, because this allows for an interesting interaction with fight. In fact, damage from fighting lets you trigger predator without risking your creature in combat. It has also an interesting interaction with ferocious: a 3/3 predator that deals damage and survives gets a +1/+1 counter at end of turn, becoming a 4/4 and turning on ferocious.
New Mechanic: Adaptive
The set features a new mechanic called adaptive. It always has a number following it. Its reminder text is as follows:
Adaptive N (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, you may put N +1/+1 counters on it. Otherwise, you may remove all +1/+1 counters from it.)
CR entry (based on the CR ORI Edition)
702.113 Adaptive
702.113a Adaptive is a keyword that represents two triggered abilities. "Adaptive N" means "At the beginning of your upkeep, if this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, you may put N +1/+1 counters on it." and "At the beginning of your upkeep, if this creature has a +1/+1 counter on it, you may remove all +1/+1 counters from it."
702.113b A creature “adapts” when one or more +1/+1 counters are put on it or removed from it as a result of its adaptive ability resolving.
702.113c If a creature has multiple instances of adaptive, each triggers separately.
All creatures with this mechanic also have another ability that is beneficial but is only active if the creature has no +1/+1 counters on it. This is a variation on a mechanic coming from an earlier custom set of mine (never published, so don't look for it), where it represented mutating creatures changing shape. I pitched the initial idea, the name is by Jimmy Groove, and the final wording of the reminder text is by Piar. Mechanically, you have to choose between a vanilla creature with higher P/T or a creature with abilities but with lower P/T. Because of this tension, this mechanic leans towards Spike. A very simple example:
Mutating Bird
Creature - Bird (C)
Adaptive 1 (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, you may put a +1/+1 counters on it. Otherwise, you may remove all +1/+1 counters from it.)
Mutating Bird has flying as long as it has no +1/+1 counters on it.
2/2
This bird can stay on the ground and be a 3/3 or take flight as a 2/2. You can always change between one form and another during your upkeep, to let you have the best form for the given board situation.
I included the concept of a creature that adapts so that we can have abilities like "Whenever CARDNAME adapts, EFFECT" or "Whenever a creature you control adapts, EFFECT". We may have that already in the first set or as an advancement in the second set.
Adaptive is meant to represent the adaptability of Extinctian animals to their environment.
New Mechanic: Raw
The set also features a new mechanic called raw. It is an ability word grouping together similar abilities that care if a spell was cast only spending mana of its color. Raw means (There will be no CR-like entry for it, as ability words have no rules meaning):
On instants/sorceries:
Raw — If only COLOR mana was spent to cast CARDNAME, EFFECT.
On permanents as etb effect:
Raw — When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if only COLOR mana was spent to cast it, EFFECT.
Raw is meant to represent mana abundance on Extinctia. It was created by Ryder052 as the instant/sorcery version, which I expanded into the permanent version myself.
During the discussion about Sandbugs, an interesting idea by Jimmy Groove emerged that could easily become a mechanic in the second set. He presented it as colorless raw, but unfortunaly it can't work like that and would need to be a separate mechanic substituting raw in the second set. Quoting myself from the thread in the spoiler:
Will do, but I can't help but notice that that is NOT raw. Raw does a yes/no check on whether a single color of mana was used to cast a spell, this does something for each mana of a specific color/colorless. They are completely different things and thus this can't be raw nor a variation on it. It would need to be its own mechanic, with a different name. It could be one of our (One? Two? We'll see.) new mechanics for the second set, in which case I just can't see raw being in it. The design space looks just too similar. Just compare these:
Raw - If only COLOR mana was spent to cast CARDNAME, EFFECT.
Note - COLOR may also be "colorless". That would be colorless raw: "If only colorless mana was spent to cast this, EFFECT". I could actually see this on some artifacts in the first set (because the following mechanic would imply we abandon raw in the second set), if there is a realistic way to cast a spell with only colorless mana, and keep in mind the difference between generic mana in mana costs and colorless mana in the mana pool. Those artifacts could maybe be relics/remnants/ruins of our past civilizations?
NAME - For each COLOR mana spent to cast CARDNAME, EFFECT.
Note - COLOR may also be "colorless": "For each colorless mana spent to cast this, EFFECT".
Another note - This definitely reminds me of chroma. I think we've just designed another variation on it, just as devotion was one.
How can the two be the same mechanic? They just can't.
Returning Mechanic: Ferocious
The set features ferocious as a returning mechanic from Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged. Ferocious is an ability word that groups together similar abilies that care about whether a creature's power is 4 or greater. As all ability words, it doesn't have rules meaning, so it has no CR entry. Usually, ferocious appears as follows:
Ferocious — If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, EFFECT.
Anyway, always read carefully what a ferocious ability says, as they may work in slightly different ways (such as having the check as an intervening if clause of a triggered ability, for example).
Ferocious is meant to represent the wildness of Extinctian creatures that have no sentience and no control of consciousness. Mechanically, it's included in the set because of its interesting interaction with adaptive.
Subthemes
The set will have at least the following subthemes:
• +1/+1 counters (to interact with adaptive and predator)
• fight (to express wildness and predation in another way, and also to act as the red/green archetype)
• Beast tribal (the small tribal component every large set nowadays has)